Safety gas cock



Sept; 8 19319 w. F. HOE'LLTKE 1,

SAFETY GAS COCK Filed April 16. '1929 Ivnl By M I A llamey Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAI F. HOEL'I'KE, 01' JOURNAL SQUARE, NEW JERSEY sum GAS COCK Application filed April 16,

the valve to shut off if the flame in the gas line strikes back of the burner.

These and other objects of the invention will be illustrated in the drawings described in the specification and pointed out in the claims at the end thereof.

In the drawings: v

Figure 1 illustrates a side elevation of the assembly containing my invention with the valve held open.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the assembly containing my invention wlth the valve closed.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the safety pm used in my invention. v a

Figure 4 is a longitudlnal section through the nipple. 1

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the valve housing showing the valve 'sprlng which normally holds the valve and pm 11p 1n closed position.

In the drawings like reference numerals indicate like parts.

In the drawings reference numeral 1 1nd1- cates a valve housing in which is a valve that is closed automatically by a spring 26. This valve and housing by itself constitutes no part of my invention, as any standard valve of which many are made can be used for this purpose. 2v indicates a pin which connects with the valve inside by which the valve can be pushed down and held open. 3 is a bracket seated on the valve which bracket has a forked end. In this bracket is carried the pin 4 on which is pivotally mounted a lever 5. This lever has a slot 6 at the outer end thereof.

Threaded into the valve housing 1 is a nip ple 7 to which is threaded a reducer. 8 to which in turn is threaded a nipple 9 to which in turn is threaded a reducer 10. To the reducer 10 asmall nipple 11.is threaded which makes connection with the burner. The large nipple 9 is shownin cross section in Figure 4 and has a perforated disk 15 at one end thereof which is made of refractory material. Almost filling the nipple is provided a mat 1929. Serial no. 355,582.

or wad of twisted and woven copper wire 16 matted together and held to ether by a bolt 17 so that the gas can pass through it, these parts being arranged to permit the gas to flow through the line in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1. When the r 1 valve and its-stem 2 is in the position shown in Figure 1 gas or a mixture of air and gas can pass through the line. But when the valve and stem is in the position shown in 1 F igure- 2 the valve is closed and gas cannot pass through the line.

It sometimes happens that the flame of the burner strikes back through the burner into the line, and the flame will then burn at the refractory disk 13 and'after a while this disk and nipple and the reducer will get hot enough so that the flame will strike back into the copper wire mat and will then melt out the copper and may even travel further back in the line and cause an explosion. To prevent this I perforate the reducer 10 at the top and bottom and pass through it a pin or rod 20, which pin is shown in Figure 3. This pin makes a close sliding fit in the reducer and is made with an enlarged head 21- at one end and is threaded at the lower end 22. The upper end 21 is forked and a screw passes through the forked end 21 and through the slot 6 in the end of the lever 5 and connects the'lever and pin together. The pin 20 is made of two parts which overlap each other and form a joint as indicated at 23 and the parts are soldered together at this place with a solder that has arather low meltlng point. When the pinis in the position shown in Figure 1, a nut is placed thereon and screwed up'to make contact with the reducer and hold the pin 20 so that'the soldered joint 23 stands substantially centrally of the reducer 10. When the flame strikes back in the"reducer,--the solder quickly melts long before the refractorydisk 15 can heat up and opens the joint in the pin 20. The spring in the valve housing 1 then expands pushing up the pin 2 and the lever 5 which is released by the melting of the joint 23 in the pin 20 and the valve then closes thus shutting off the flow of gas upon which the flame at once goes out and the line cools off. This prevents any danger from fire or explosion, and also prevents the Waste of gas.

It will be understood that the brass rod 20 can be replaced by any metal having a low melting point, or a wood or vegetable fiber can be used that will quickly burn through.

It will be seen that if a backfire occurs the flame will pass through the nipple 11 into the reducer 10, where for the time being the assage of the flame is arrested by the react0ry element 15 at which point the flame will burn without passing through the element until the element has heated up. This takes some time, and during this time the flame is heating the soldered joint 23. This joint quickly reaches the melting point of the solder, and then the joint lets go and permits the valve to close. If the refractory element 15 were omitted the copper mat by itself would hold the flame in positon to play on the soldered joint until the copper mat had heated up sufliciently so as to no longer cool the gas below the burning point. Thereafter the flame would graduallywork its way through the copper mat, taking some minutes in so doing, but long before this could happen the soldered joint23 would let go and permit the valve to close, thus cutting ofl the supply of gas and causing the flame to go out.

It will also be understood that while the device is set in a horizontal position, it can just as well, and frequently does, set in an upright position with the refractory disc just under the fusible pin, in which case the flame will burn straight up and play on the fusible joint of the pin, causing it to melt promptly, and release the lever and valve, so that the valve will close and shut off the flow of gas.

I claim:

1. A safety gas cock for a gas line comprising a valve, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever adapted to normally hold the valve openagainst the spring, a pin adapted to hold said lever in position to hold said valve open, said pin extending into the gas line and being adapted to be separated intermediate its ends by a rise in temperature in the gas line, thereby releasing the lever and permitting the spring to close the valve.

2. A safety gas cock for a gas line comprising a valve and valve housing, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever pivoted on the housing, a pin extending through the housing between the valve and the lever, said lever being adapted to hold the valve open through said pin against the spring, a second pin adapted -to hold said lever in position to hold said valve open, said second pin extending into the gas line and being adapted to be separated intermediate its ends by a rise in temperature in. the gas line, thereby releasing the lever and permitting the spring to close the valve.

3. In a fire check for pipe lines, the combination of a valve casing in the line having inlet and outlet passages, a normally open inlet valve in said 'casing, a heat responsive device in the outlet passage, and means exterior to the pipe line connecting said valve and heat responsive device to maintain said valve in its normally open position, said exteriorly disposed means being releasable to permit said valve to close upon the occurrence of predetermined temperatures in the outlet passage.

4. In a fire check for pipe lines, the combination of a valve casing in the line having inlet and outlet passages, a normally open inlet valve in said casing, a heat responsive device removably mounted in the wall of the outlet passage at a point remote from said valve casing, and means exterior to the pipe line connecting said valve and heat responsive device to maintain said valve in its normally open position, said exteriorly disposed means being releasable to permit said valve to close upon the occurrence of predetermined temperatures in the outlet passage.

5. In a fire check for pipe lines, the combination of a valve casing in the line having inlet and outlet passages, a normally open inlet valve in said casing, a heat responsive device in theoutlet passage, means exterior to the pipe line connecting said valve and heat responsive device to maintain said valve in its normally open position, said exteriorly disposed means being releasable to permit said valve to close upon the occurrence of predetermined temperatures in the outlet passage, and interrupting means in the outlet passage to check return of flame to said valve casing.

6. In a fire check for pipe lines, the combination of a valve casing in the line having inlet and outlet passages, a normally open inlet valve in said casing, a heat responsive device in the outlet passage, means exterior to the pipe line connecting said valve and heat responsive device to maintain said valve in its normally open position, said exteriorly disposed means being releasable to permit said valve to close upon the occurrence of predetermined temperatures in the outlet passage, and interrupting means in the outlet passage between said heat responsive device and said valve casing to check return of flame to said valve casing.

7. The combination in a fire check for pipe lines, of a valve casing having inlet and outlet passages, a normally open inlet valve in said casing acting automatically to close the inlet passage under predetermined conditions, 21 heat-responsive device in the outlet passage, and lever mechanism disposed exteriorly of the pipe line connecting said heat responsive device and said valve to maintain said valve in its normally open position, said lever mechanism being releasable to permit said valve to close upon response of said heatresponsive device to predetermined temperature conditions in the outlet passage.

8. A fire check for fuel lines, comprising a casing having an inlet and an outlet, flameinterrupting means in said casing, a cut-off in said casing between the inlet and the outlet, a fusible release device mounted in a wall of and projecting into said casing, and means exterior to said casing connecting said outoff and said fusible release device.

9. A fire check for fuel lines, comprising a casing having an inlet and an outlet, flameinterrupting means in said casing a cut-off in said casing between the inlet and the outlet, a fusible release device mounted in a wall and projecting into said casing on the outlet side thereof, and means exterior to said casing connecting said cut-off and said fusible release device.

10. A fire check for fuel lines, comprising a casing, inlet and outlet connections detachably connected to the ends of said casing, flame-interrupting means in said casing, and a fusible release device mounted in a wall of one of said detachable connections and projecting into said casing.

11. A fire check for fuel lines, comprising a casing, inlet and outlet connections detachably connected to the ends of said casing, flame-interrupting means in said casing, and a fusible release device mounted in a wall of the detachable outlet connection and projecting into said casing.

12. A safety gas cock for a gas line comprising a valve and valve housing, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever pivoted on the housing, a pin extending into the housing between the valve and the lever, said lever being adapted to hold the valve open through said pin against the spring, a rod adapted to hold said lever in position to hold said valve open, the lower end of said rod being held in place in the gas line at normal temperatures by fusible material which material will melt with a rise in temperature in the gas line and release the rod and lever andpermit the spring to close the valve.

13. A safety gas cock for a gas line comprising a valve and valve housing, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever pivoted on the housing, a pin extending into the housing between the valve and the lever, said lever being adapted to hold the valve open through said pin against the spring, a rod adapted to hold said lever in position to hold said valve open, a flame retarding and heat absorbing device located in the gas line between the rod and the valve, said rod being located at the discharge end of said device, the lower end of said rod being held in place in the gas line at normal temperatures by fusible material which material will melt with a rise intemperature in the gas line and release the rod and lever and permit the spring to close the valve before a flame can pass through the gas line from the rod to the valve.

14. A safety gas cock for a gas line comprising a valve and valve housing, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever pivoted on the housing, a pin extending into the housing between the valve and the lever, said lever being adapted to hold the valve open through said pin against the spring, a rod adapted to hold said lever in position to hold said Valve open, the portion of said gas line between the rod and the valve having a flame check therein that will permit the gas to pass through it freely and will retard the passage of any flame that may get into the gas line, the lower end-of said rod being located at the discharge end of said flame check and where it will be quickly heated by any flame burning thereon and being held'in place in the gas line at normal temperatures by fusible material, which material will melt with a rise in temperature and release the rod and lever and permit the spring to close the valve before a flame can pass through the gas line from the rod to the valve.

15. A safety gas cook for a gas line comprising a valve and valve housing, a spring adapted to hold the valve closed, a lever pivoted on the housing, a pin extending into the housing between the valve and the lever, said lever being adapted to hold the Valve open through said pin against the spring, a rod adapted to hold said lever in position to hold said valve open, the portion of said gas line between the rod and the valve having a flame check therein that will permit the gas to pass through it freely and will retard the passage of any flame that may get into the gas line, the lower end of said rod being located at the discharge end of said frame check and where it will be quickly heated by any flame burning thereon and being held in place in the gas line at normal temperatures by fusible material, which material will melt with a rise in temperature and release the rod and lever and permit the spring to close the valve before a flame can pass through the gas line from the rod to the valve, said flame check comprising a refractory mass having passages therethrough and a reticulated mass of metal.

16. A fire check for fuel lines comprising a casing having an inlet and-an outlet, flame interrupting means in said casing, a fusible release device projecting into said casing from the outside and located at the discharge end of the flame interrupting means where it will be quickly heated by a flame burning thereon.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM F. HOELTKE. 

